I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up To No Good
by Kakashis-Rabid-Fangirl
Summary: The creation of the Marauder's Map, and what kind of trouble it gets the Marauders into.
1. The Map

The Marauders, and most other characters in this story are copwritten  
  
by Joanne Rowling. Jordan Twins and Some other unknown characters were probably made by me.  
  
*****  
  
CHAPTER ONE- THE MAP  
  
*****  
  
He peered slowly around the corner of the building, clutching the  
  
silvery cloak tightly around him. Of course he wasn't scared! Well,  
  
maybe a little..  
  
"James.." He muttered, nudging an elbow into his friend's rib  
  
cage, "do you see anybody? Is anybody coming?"  
  
"Stop worrying Remus! It's called an invisibility cloak for a  
  
reason. Invisibility, as in, nobody can see you..." Sirius snickered,  
  
crouching over slightly as he rested an elbow on Remus' shoulder.  
  
"But... Snape..." Peter muttered, trying futilely to suck in his  
  
chubby belly in order to keep the entire group hidden perfectly  
  
beneath the large cloak.  
  
"So what about Snape! He has no proof, even if he DID catch us!"  
  
James growled, his tone ending the argument easily, "Now shut up, or  
  
else Filch might hear..."  
  
As they rounded the bend slowly, so as to not let any feet be seen  
  
from beneath the cloak. The library was just ahead, and they needed  
  
to get in there without ANYBODY noticing. What they had planned was  
  
not something to take lightly...  
  
"Now remember, straight to the restricted section, no dawdling  
  
once we're in." James said, waving a finger scoldingly at his  
  
friends. The wide grin across his face said that it really didn't  
  
matter, just as long as they weren't caught.  
  
As the group sniggered, they slipped into the library and passed a  
  
torch which still burned slightly upon the wall, "We need to find out  
  
how to get the parchment to add new names.." Remus said, having been  
  
the one to point out the one flaw within their plan.  
  
The plan, to make a map, which would help mischief-makers like  
  
themselves out. They planned on creating a map which could be wiped  
  
free of information if found, that would reveal every movement of  
  
everyone within the Hogwarts grounds, show off every secret tunnel  
  
the small group of friends had found, so that trouble-maker could  
  
slip around unnoticed. The problem, as Lupin had pointed out, was  
  
that next year the new students would not appear on the map, nor  
  
would new teachers, which could be a potential problem. Strolling  
  
down the hall, dropping dungbombs thinking nobody was around, then  
  
running into a new teacher wouldn't be a good thing. So what they  
  
decided they needed, was to give their map a brain of its own...  
  
Sirius pulled book after book off of the shelf, most of which  
  
having nothing to do with what needed to be found. Some titles  
  
included 'Which Broomstick', 'A guide to European Quidditch',  
  
and 'Tentacle Tongues and Squeaky Teeth, a guide to prank hexes and  
  
jinxes'.  
  
Remus laughed at that, as he pulled a book from the shelf  
  
entitled, 'Books with Brains' which seemed very promising. He flipped  
  
open the book and sure enough, written across the brown and curling  
  
pages was; 'To Give A Book A Brain..' Remus shrugged, and doubted  
  
giving a book a brain and giving a piece of parchment a brain was  
  
much different.  
  
James smiled, "Ok, what d'we have to do Moony?"  
  
"Gives me a list of charms, a knowledge charm seems our best  
  
bet, maybe an increased memory charm as well... 'Intellicus and  
  
Remeculous' seems easy enough..." Remus chuckled, and James nodded.  
  
Sirius, however, had his nose in the hexes and jinxes book, muttering  
  
to Peter about the different things they could do to nosey old  
  
Snape.  
  
"Look, we could make him speak backwards for a day! Or check this  
  
out, 'To give someone a reptilian tail..' He'd deserve it, make him  
  
look more like the snake he is..."  
  
Peter sniggered as he pointed to one which spoke about making  
  
someone sing everything they tried to say.  
  
"No, that would be torture for us, have you ever heard that guy  
  
sing? I swear he shattered the windows!"  
  
"Padfoot, Wormtail c'mon, we got our book..."  
  
"K!" Peter exclaimed, hopping up and waddling over to his much  
  
taller friends, he stood at least a head shorter than them, and was  
  
rather pudgy, with a round, dimpled face, and small watery eyes.  
  
But just as the group finished putting the unneeded books back on  
  
the shelf.  
  
"LOONY LOOPY LUPIN!" Came a boisterous voice, followed closely by  
  
the actual being. A round-bellied poltergeist came bouncing into the  
  
room, and glanced around, staring at each horror-struck face in  
  
turn.  
  
"LOONY LOOPY LUPIN! LOONY LOOPY LUPUN!" he cried again, at the top  
  
of his loud voice.  
  
"Filch'll hear!" Sirius groaned, staring at the translucent  
  
Peeves.  
  
"PEEEEEEVES!" came an old, wail of a voice.  
  
Peeves bounced around for a few more minutes, as the caretaker in  
  
his old brown overcoat came trudging in, a cat following him at his  
  
heels.  
  
"Peeves! What are you doing in here?! Trying to wake the whole  
  
staff! I'll have you out of here in a flash!" he threatened as Peeves  
  
floated upside down, making impolite faces at Argus Filch. Mrs.  
  
Norris- the cat -purred as it rubbed against its master's feet.  
  
"Close one.." James groaned as he leaned against the wall just  
  
outside the library, "Too close, this is exactly why we need that  
  
map!"  
  
"Soon enough!" Remus said with a laugh, holding the book out for  
  
them to see, he had to crouch slightly as the invisibility cloak  
  
seemed especially small when they were so close to being caught.  
  
"Soon, and then we'll have the Marauder's Map!" Sirius exclaimed,  
  
then slapped his hand over his mouth, luckily Filch was still too  
  
busy screaming at Peeves to hear.  
  
***************  
  
That's it, the beginning of my first fic on this site, so please be kind! I would really appreciate it if nobody wrote me saying how much I suck at this... ^.^;; 


	2. The Password

Once again, I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER AND HIS FRIENDS! I DO own a few other characters, Ria, The Jordon Twins, Alexis, Maya, and a few others, so no stealing!  
  
**************  
  
CHAPTER 2- THE PASSWORD  
  
**************  
  
"Great, now we just have to sign it..." Moony exclaimed, the group of 4 hiding behind the secrecy of the 4-poster hangings around the one called James' bed.  
  
"James, Remus, Sirius, and Peter!" Wormtail said, picking up the eagle- feather quill he had at his side.  
  
"No you git, if we do that and a teacher somehow gets a hold of it, we'll be doomed!" Padfoot scolded harshly, "They'll know we've been sneaking around AND that we've been using the restricted section of the library!"  
  
Wormtail looked down at his feet, one foot was a black sock, on the other was a white one.  
  
"Or in other words, it might be smart to sign it with other names..." Prongs suggested, trying to end the irrelevant scolding.  
  
"Why not our nicknames?" Remus, also known as Moony, offered, "Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs?"  
  
"Excellent!" Sirius- Padfoot -exclaimed, "They can't prove it's us that way..."  
  
"But, other people can. I mean, Snape knows our nicknames.." Wormtail muttered, feeling lower now, after the degrading of Sirius Black.  
  
"You're right... So... Maybe a password?"  
  
"But it'd have to be something easy to remember..." Remus said, his brow furrowing in an attempt to concentrate.  
  
"And something that our future generations of mischief-makers might be able to figure out..."  
  
At that moment a gentle knocking at the dormitory door broke the four friends from their contemplations.  
  
"James? It's Lily... Can I come in?" came a timid, feminine voice. James blushed.  
  
"Go t'yer girlfriend Prongs, we can do this later..." the other 3 said simultaneously.  
  
************ THE NEXT MORNING ************  
  
"James, what did Lily want huh?" The obsidian-haired, pale-eyed lad named Sirius asked, pulling his cloak around himself as he caught up to his best friend.  
  
"Oh, well, There will be a Christmas dance next week on Christmas Eve, and.. Well..." his cheeks turned a bright red as he pushed his glasses farther up the bridge of his nose.  
  
"And?" Sirius prompted, knowing full well what he was getting at, but loving to watch james squirm about Lily.  
  
"She... Shewantedgotodancewimme" he blurted out, his cheeks burning bright pink as he looked away.  
  
"My my! My little James is all grown up!" Sirius laughed as they entered the Transfiguration classroom. James broke out into laughter as well.  
  
Then Sirius asked the simple question of ,"What didja say?"  
  
"Yes." James said, averting his eyes to avoid being stared at. They took Transfiguration with the Slytherines, and Snape seemed determined to figure out what was so funny.  
  
"What's so funny Potter?" Lucious Malfoy asked with a smart grin across his face, asking the question for Snape, "Seen yourself in the mirror? Maybe now you'll finally brush your hair."  
  
James seemed furious, but Sirius was by far, the more angered of the two.  
  
"SHUT YOUR TRAP MALFOY!" Padfoot barked, his pale eyes flaming with rage. James was his best of friends, even more so than good old Remus or Peter, someone would never see one without the other.  
  
"Why don't you make me Black?" Lucious snapped back, but the entrance of Professor McGonagall ended the argument easily. Neither of the two wanted to feel the wrath of the thin-lipped, ever harsh Transfiguration teacher.  
  
"Alright class, today we will be transfiguring turtles into teacups..." Minerva began as Remus and Peter came to join Sirius and James.  
  
Through the remainder of class, the 'Marauders' came up with many hexes and other cruel things to do to Malfoy.  
  
*********************  
  
"Anyone have any ideas for a password?" Sirius asked after a moment of silence, it seemed none of the group was willing to admit they hadn't thought much about a good password for their map.  
  
"Urm.. Dragon's Bane?" Wormtail said timidly, offering the Gryffindor password for this week as his idea.  
  
"No, no. We need a password we will always remember, and one that others might figure out." Remus said, sighing heavily, he was as lost as the others.  
  
James shrugged his shoulders, as did Sirius, and the group shook their heads resignedly. Then the Jordon Twins entered and cut their discussion short.  
  
"James, Lily's looking for you, and Alexis, Ria, and Maya are searching for you other three, they say it's something important." Jeremy said with a grin, "Maybe somethin' t'do with the dance?"  
  
"Who're you taking Jeremy?" Sirius asked, the twin said quickly and calmly, "Mandy Spinnet."  
  
Sirius shook his head, knowing full well she hadn't been asked yet, but followed Jeremy's pointed finger towards the common room door, Ria was waiting for him!  
  
*********************  
  
"Now we all got ourselves dates to the dance, hm?" James said with a wide grin, looking at each member of his close group of friends each having pink or red lipstick marks on their cheeks, and some of them having their hair as messy as James' was everyday.  
  
Sirius, Remus, and Peter nodded, then left towards Potions, their least favourite class, where Severus Snape's father taught.  
  
"Double Potions..." groaned Remus as he took his seat and looked up at the teacher's desk, where a greasy-haired, bug-eyed man sat, tapping long slender fingers against his desk impatiently.  
  
"Always picks on us Gryffindors..." James muttered, plopping down next to Remus, Sirius sitting next to James, and Peter sitting at the other end of the table, to the right of Sirius.  
  
"Today, we brew a sleeping draught... Everyone, I presume, has a bezoar?" he asked with a malicious grin, eyeing pudgy little Peter who seemed to have accidentally squashed his beneath his cauldron. Peter cowered and whimpered under the Slytherine Head of House's evil glare.  
  
Professor Snape began to write across the board, and as the letter illuminated so the class could read it, several students, Slytherine and Gryffindor alike, turned and whispered things to each other.  
  
"Father taught me a fabulous new jinx I plan to try out on Potter after class." Malfoy was saying to Severus, as the two cast malicious looks at the tossle-haired James.  
  
Professor Snape, who had been intently writing on the board still, pretended not to notice.  
  
"I swear they're up to no good..." SIrius muttered under his breath, glaring daggers at Lucious and Severus, while James nodded.  
  
A tiny lightbulb went off in his head, "That's the password! I solemnly swear that I am up to no good!" James hissed to his friends, who seemed quite pleased with the idea as well.  
  
"10 points from Gryffindor for speaking during class." the teacher stated simply, letting the Slytherines silently laugh and mouth curses at the Gryffindor students, and pretending not to notice once more. 


	3. A TroubleMaker's Job Is Never Done

*********** CHAPTER 3- A TROUBLE-MAKER'S JOB IS NEVER DONE ***********  
  
"The greasy old git, now I know where Snivellus gets it from!" Spat Sirius, trotting along side Remus and James, as Peter's stubby legs tried to carry him fast enough to keep up.  
  
They turned a few corridors, climbed a set of stairs that were 1/2 way through shifting from one door to another, and hopped instinctively over a trick step.  
  
"Obviously, but we've got to put up with him for the rest of our Hogwarts years, we have to take Potions all the way through...." Remus added, groaning.  
  
As they came upon the portrait of the fat lady, "Password?" she asked, as usual, and Peter's tiny voice immediately said, "Hungarian Horntail!"  
  
"We'll make him pay for sure..." James continued, "One the map is done..."  
  
"I-I've been thinking guys..." Peter squeaked from behind, "I-I mean, we know people can't see our map without the password, b-but what if someone catches on to what it is?"  
  
"Good point Wormtail..." James said, scratching his chin and staring at Peter with a contemplative look. He glanced idly around the common room, grumbling that someone had stolen their seats by the fire.  
  
"We could make it seem like something else!" Remus said with a wide grin.  
  
"Precisely Moony, but what?" Sirius said, pushing James aside while he wasn't looking, and taking on the same stance his best friend had before, scratching his chin.  
  
The 4 paused for a moment, obviously thinking hard, Sirius still scratching his chin, James fiddling with the golden snitch he nicked from the Quidditch shed, Remus fiddling with a hole in one of his robes, and Peter trying to find a cookie he had stuffed in his pocket last week.  
  
Snapping his fingers together, Remus looked brightly at the rest of the group.  
  
"Easy enough!" Remus said, now pushing Sirius aside, with a chuckle, "It's a map for mischief-makers, so it should sound like a mischief-maker sounds!"  
  
"And what exactly do we say when someone goes nosing into our business?" James said.  
  
"We tell them they're nosey prats." Sirius said, tilting his head to the side so his obsidian bangs all shifted to cover one eye.  
  
"And what else?" Remus said, shuffling through his bag to find a quill and peace of parchment.  
  
"Well, usually we insult 'em a bit..." Peter said, grinning from ear to ear.  
  
"Like?"  
  
"You should get your slimy nose away from this thing else you cover it in great grease marks!" James piped up, and Sirius cast him an approving nod.  
  
And so it went, insults being written down on a piece of parchment by Moony. Things like "Msr. Wormtail would like to say that ________ should wash his greasy hair!" and "Msr. Prongs would like to completely agree with Msr. Wormtail, and adds that maybe a shrinking charm on ______'s great ski- slope might do him some good." being the most prominent. As the 4 wrote and burst into laughter as one of them would pipe of a particularly nasty comment.  
  
"James! The Yule Ball is tomorrow night don't forget!" Lily giggled as she dashed over from the girl's dormitory steps, smiling brightly, "What colour are your dress robes? I can dress to match!"  
  
"Urm.. Green." He said, "Emerald green..." Sirius sniggering behind his back.  
  
"Fantastic! Green brings out my eyes!" Lily giggled once more, leaning in and giving James a peck on the cheek. She turned on her heal and darted up the steps, nearly bowling over a group of first years as she went.  
  
"James is gonna get lucky tomorrow night!" Sirius said, nudging James with his elbow and smiling widely, the grin absorbing his pale eyes.  
  
"Oh shut it you great prat!" James said, his voice full of laughter as he nudged back.  
  
***************  
  
Short chapter, I'm running low on things to do, and I'm heading out in a few minutes, so, sorry! 


	4. A Test Drive

******************* CHAPTER 4- TAKING A TEST RUN *******************  
  
"W-We're done guys..." James said, lifting up the piece of parchment and holding it up for everyone to see.  
  
"Remus, test the insults...." Sirius said, nudging his friend and chuckling.  
  
Remus nodded and tapped the page with his wand, saying in a falsely deep voice, "I, Severus Snape, demand that you tell me you secret!"  
  
As though an invisible hand was writing across the page, the words appeared in glistening emerald green ink.  
  
Mr. Moony would like to say that Severus Snape should keep his abnormally large nose out of other people's business.  
  
Mr. Prongs would like to agree with Mr. Moony and would like to tell Mr. Snape that he should wash his hair, the greasy git.  
  
Mr. Padfoot would like to say that he should stop trying to lower his voice, it is obvious he hasn't reached puberty yet.  
  
Mr. Wormtail would like to add that Mr. Snape should clean his robes, his stentch can be smelt through the parchment.  
  
Remus' cheeks flushed red, staring at Sirius as though he mortally offended him, "Hey, woah, that one was meant for Snape, not you Remus!" he said, trying to wipe away the writing that still glistened across the page.  
  
James and Peter laughed, but quickly shut up as Remus looked furiously at the rest of the group, then broke out into laughter too.  
  
"Now, Sirius, would you care to do the honours?" James asked, holding the parchment out towards his best of friends.  
  
Sirius took the page, raised his wand and said with a wide grin, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good!"  
  
And with that, lines of black ink etched its way across the page like a spiderweb creating itself. Sirius looked excited as tiny inkblots marked with minute names marked off everyone in the schoolgrounds.  
  
Written across the top were the names that many mischief makers would grow to worship; Mssrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs, Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mishief-Makers, are proud to Present THE MARAUDER'S MAP.  
  
"Look, there's us!" Peter said excitedly, pointing to a group of 4 dots veyr clsoe together, located in the boys dormitories of the Gryffindor tower.  
  
Indeed it was, each dot was marked with their names, and Sirius oohed and awed as he moved back and forth, and the little dot immitated his movements.  
  
"That's bloody awesome!" James said with wide eyes. He snatched the paper back, then looked to Peter.  
  
"Now, to clear the map." he said, "Peter?"  
  
Peter reached out with an unsteady hand, then squeaked out, "Mischief managed!" and the map instantly cleared away.  
  
The four of them, forever known as the Marauders, clapped at their own ingenious, and then looked slyly at each other.  
  
"Care to test it out?" James said after a moment, and his 3 best friends nodded vigerously.  
  
As the lines spidered their way back across the page, Sirius reached into James' trunk and pulled out the invisibility cloak.  
  
"I say we get Snape, look, he's gone to the bathroom on 3rd floor, 1st floor's one in broken." Sirius said with an almsot evil grin.  
  
James grinned as well, and Peter followed suit, but Remus- as always- was the apprehensive one.  
  
"What if he tattles to the Headmaster? Dumbledore knows we have the cloak..." Remus said, putting a damper on the party, and Sirius frowned.  
  
"He also knows what we're like and has never kicked us out before." James offered, and Remus shrugged, "Besides, we need to test out the map somehow, and what better way than to get Snape?"  
  
After a few more moments of begging and pleading, Remus gave in, and the four slipped (not so easily) under the invisibility cloak.  
  
******************  
  
"SNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAPE!" Shouted a voice from thin air, and the greasy-haired poor boy spun around, trying to spot where the cry came from.  
  
"Peeves, show yourself or I'll get the Bloody Baron, he IS the Slytherin house ghost!"  
  
"SNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAPE!" came the cry again, and Severus jumped.  
  
"P-P-Peeves?" he said, suddenly feeling less cocky.  
  
Once again, the eery calling of young Severus' last name cried. Severus stared around, clenching and unclenching his fists at each side.  
  
He paused for a moment, trying to make out the voice this time, and he realized finalyl that it belonged to-  
  
"JAMES POTTER! SHOW YOURSELF! MR. FILCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  
  
Sirius looked down at the map from beneath the cloak, then grinned.  
  
"We'll get you next time Snivellus!" Sirius shouted, and the 4 slipped away from the washroom, looking down at the map again.  
  
"Go the long way around, to the left, Filch is coming through a secret passageway to the right."  
  
They slipped off, and as Filch entered the washroom to find a disgruntled Snape exiting it and waving his arms around furiously, trying to catch James and the others.  
  
"Out of bed, are we Mr. Snape?" Filch said menacingly.  
  
"You know as well as I do that Myrtle's taken to haunting the boy's toilets in the dungeons, and 1st floor washroom aren't working." Snape said calmly, "But James Potter is slinking around out here, he must be using an invisibility charm or cloak." he waved hsi arms in a wide arc, but the marauders were already outside the fat lady's portrait now.  
  
"Leprachaun Gold." Remus whispered, and the drowsy fat lady swung open without even pausing to see who was saying the password.  
  
*********************  
  
"That was great! Did you hear that? 'P-P-Peeves?' sounded like he was going to wet himself, he did!" James said, and Remus broke into fits of laughter, "Looked like it too, see the way his legs were crossed?" the werewolf said.  
  
"I think I'm liking this map! And now we can slip out to Honeydukes whenever we want!" Peter said happily, wringing his porky hands and debating what kind of candy he'd like to get.  
  
"Imagine what else we could do, that potion in your book, we could slip out to the Potions store-cupboard and snatch the ingredients too!" Remus said, pointing at Sirius who was grinning broadly.  
  
The conversation continued on for nearly an hour before they finally decided it was time to go to sleep. 


	5. Never Mess With A Marauder

***************************************  
  
CHAPTER 5- NEVER MESS WITH A MARAUDER ***************************************  
  
Yawning widely as he stretched his arms up above his head, he sat up and reached for his circular glasses. Pushing them up on his nose with his index finger to meet his hazel eyes, James Potter- Prongs to his close friends- looked casually down at his watch.  
  
"9 o'clock already..." James said, his eyes opening wide as he pulled the curtains from around his fore-poster bed and slipped onto plush carpet of his dorm-room.  
  
As he gazed around the room, he noticed he wasn't the only one who had slept in, and moved to the bed to the left of his, drawing the curtains away and poking his head in to stare at the spread-eagled form on Sirius Black, who had drool forming in the corner of his mouth as he snored loudly and held his pillow to his chest in his sleep.  
  
"Padfoot, get up!" James said, swiping the pillow from Sirius's arms and swatting him in the head with it. Immediately Sirius sat bolt upright, obviously startled at the unwelcome wake-up-call.  
  
"I didn't do it!" Were the first words from his mouth before he realised that it had been James who woke him up. When he noticed this fact, he fell backwards onto his bed and reached out to grab his pillow back from James.  
  
"Oh, just you, now lemme go back to sleep." Said the drowsy Padfoot.  
  
"How about no, seeing as it's Christmas Eve and it's quarter past 9 in the morning."  
  
"So?"  
  
"Well, after breakfast, lunch, messing with Snivellus, and dinner, it'll be time for the ball..."  
  
"Oh yeah.. The dance... Still going with Lily?"  
  
"Yes...." James said, looking away and trying to keep his cheeks from burning red.  
  
"Ah, alright... Now.. Breakfast..." Padfoots seemed far more awake at that time, and quickly got dressed as James did the same.  
  
Trudging down the stairs into the common room, Prongs and Padfoot gazed inquisitively about the room.  
  
"Padfoot, Prongs, about time you two got up. Breakfast is almost over, we may have to nick some food from the kitchens instead.."  
  
"Like we've never done that before." Sirius said, rolling his eyes and running a hand through his hair to flatten it out.  
  
James, on the other hand, was rumpling up his hair with his right hand as he stared across the room at a pretty girl with deep red hair who was giggling with a few other girls. Lily Evans, the most beautiful girl James Potter had ever seen.  
  
"You know, if you were to stop daydreaming about snogging her, then maybe you'd realize that she's staring back." Sirius said, elbowing James in the shoulder, bringing him from his contemplations.  
  
"Oooh, James! Finally awake then? What time will you be picking me up later?"  
  
"Oh, well, what time is best for you?" James stuttered out, he had dreamed of going out with Lily since his 5th year at Hogwarts, and only now was she willing to go on a date with him.  
  
"Well, if the dance begins at 8 o'clock, it would be smart to say around half past 7, right?"  
  
James nodded dumbly, and Lily smiled as she went back to giggling with her friends.  
  
"That's nice, now, food!" Padfoot barked as he gazed at Remus, who was waving sheepishly at another one of the girls in Lily's group of friends, who seemed to be blushing and waving shyly back.  
  
Sirius groaned, all of his friends seemed to be into girls, including chubby Peter, who was staring intently at the rump of a skinny blonde girl who was talking with a girl who seemed to be staring at-  
  
"Sirius.. She's staring at you..." James said, nudging his friend back.  
  
"I've noticed."  
  
"Isn't that Ria?"  
  
"Yep."  
  
"Going to the Ball with her?"  
  
"Nope."  
  
"WHAT?" Remus, Peter, and James said simultaneously.  
  
Sirius merely shrugged and looked away, "Don't want a date, not really interested in going in the first place, just going because I think you'll need someone to keep you 3 from drooling too much."  
  
Remus shook his head, Peter went back to staring intently at the blonde girl named Alexis, and James laughed nervously, rumpling up his hair again.  
  
"Anyway, I'm taking the map and headed down to the kitchens, I'm hungry." And with that, Padfoot disappeared from the common room, leaving his 3 best friends to wonder what on Earth was running through Sirius's mind.  
  
*********  
  
Remus stared at the mirror in the boys washrooms prodding his robes and casting minor repairing charms to make his deep red and golden-trimmed dress-robes less like they'd been from a second-hand shop. It was going along quite well, in fact, as Remus had learned many useful household charms over the past years.  
  
James, a few feet to the right of Remus, was trying to make his hair look both like he had just hopped off of a broomstick, but not so messy all at once, and failing dismally.  
  
Peter was busy biting on his fingernails, as he was so nervous that a girl was actually willing to spend 4 hours with him in public. He soon realized he had little to no nails left to bite and instead pulled a cookie from his pocket and began to nibble at it.  
  
Sirius Black, though, was quite bored, leaning against the wall and yawning boredly as his friends attempted to make themselves better looking (or in Peter's case, worse) for the girls they planned to meet.  
  
"You all look fine, now would you hurry up already?" He barked after another few moments, checking his watch lazily.  
  
Remus finally finished, looking at himself in the mirror, seemingly satisfied with the way his Head Boy badge was covering the only hole left in the trim of his robes quite well.  
  
James sighed, giving up on the fact that his hair would never lie properly, and merely decided to do the same thing he always did, rumple up his hair and leave it be.  
  
Peter finished his cookie, choking slightly on the last bite until Sirius pounded his back ad forced the chocolate chip chunk to come flying from Wormtail's mouth and go soaring across the room.  
  
"Finally. You've been in here an hour!" Sirius grunted, staring down at his watch, which read 7:30 across it.  
  
"An hour?! It's half past 7?! LILY!!!!" James shouted, darting from the washroom with peter and Remus in tow, as it had been 7:30 that the boys had promised to meet their dates.  
  
"Blimey." Sirius muttered under his breath as he stuffed his wand into a pocket on the inside of his black and silver dress robes, just in case he got bored.  
  
*********  
  
"Why hello Black. No date? Didn't think so. After all, what girl would go with YOU?!" Lucius Malfoy asked with a sneer, giving Sirius and appraising look.  
  
"Shut up Malfoy." Sirius growled low under his breath, staring daggers at Lucius.  
  
"Even Potter's got a date... Hmm. How dreadful. How does it feel to be single while an untidy boy with glasses gets a girl?"  
  
"I said SHUT UP MALFOY!" Sirius growled once more, this time a little louder.  
  
A greasy-haired boy a few steps behind Lucius Malfoy sneered and stepped a little closer.  
  
"Oh, angry that you haven't got a date Black?" Severus Snape asked with a slight chuckle.  
  
"And where's yours Snivellus? That imaginary girlfriend of yours?" James said, stepping forwards with Lily right behind him.  
  
"I'd much rather have an imaginary date then be spending the night with a mudblood..."Snape sniggered.  
  
"Don't you dare call her that!" Remus said, stepping to the opposite side of Sirius as James, a pretty brown-haired girl with golden amber eyes clutching his arm as though it was her lifeline.  
  
"And who's this, Lupin? A cousin or did you have to pay her to come? Wait, sorry, I forgot, you haven't the money to guy a date..."  
  
Remus's cheeks turned a bright red as he shouted out, "NO!" In an undignified manner.  
  
Peter cowered behind the group, but cast a dark look at Lucius that made the Malfoy laugh.  
  
The next thing Lucius knew he was lying on the floor, at least 4different curses having struck him at the same time.  
  
"Hmm, The Jelly-legs curse, didn't see anyone use that.." James said thoughtfully, staring down at the unconscious Mafloy who had suddenly sprouted tentacles from various places on his face.  
  
"That was me." Lily said merrily, noticing Snape had darted off, presumably to find a teacher, "And I think we had better get out of here. If anyone asks, we didn't do it."  
  
"You know what, I'm beginning to like that girl of yours Prongs." Sirius said brightly as they darted off, leaving Malfoy on the floor, twitching violently now.  
  
"Wouldn't happen to have the map, would you Sirius?" Remus said cheerily as the pretty girl attached to his arm was still jogging next to him.  
  
"Of course." Sirius said, whipping a piece of parchment from his robes and tapping it lightly as he muttered the password so only the map would hear.  
  
As the ink lines spread out across the page, they quickly took a detour to the left, as Professor McGonagall was heading in that direction, and would surely ask why they were running so quickly through the halls.  
  
Checking the map at regular intervals, they managed to slip into the Ball unnoticed, and started a conversation with a few Ravenclaws that were at a table near them.  
  
"Mr. Potter, Mr. Black, Mr. Lupin, Mr. Pettigrew, Ms. Evans, Ms. Esprit, would you all follow me?" Their resident Transfiguration teacher said as she came up behind them.  
  
"Yes Professor?" James asked innocently, as the group stood up and followed Professor McGonagall from the Great Hall.  
  
"Mr. Snape seems to believe that you boys were the ones that cursed Mr. Malfoy..."  
  
"We were at the Ball Professor." Sirius lied, quite easily in fact.  
  
"Mr. Malfoy seems to believe so as well..."  
  
"They were with us, Professor!" Lily said brightly, not lying.  
  
"Are you sure Ms. Evans? I wouldn't want you to be lying for them, as it would surely mean a detention for you as well."  
  
"She's not lying Professor. Lily was right, the boys were with us the entire time..." The amber-eyed girl with Remus said merrily.  
  
"Alright, Ms. Esprit, you and Ms. Evans have never lied before and I trust you aren't now..." Minerva McGonagall said, her lips thin and giving the group a stern look.  
  
As the group headed back to the Ball, James looked considerably happier, and Sirius seemed to almost be skipping along. Remus, however, was looking rather disappointed with himself, but the way his friends (and his date) seemed to be skipping along and were almost ready to burst into song, it made him feel much less worried. He hadn't lied at all, so it wasn't his fault, Lily, Sirius, and Maya had been the ones to bend the truth..  
  
Sirius seemed to be light on his feet and much happier with the Ball, as he had gotten away with cursing Malfoy. Though no matter how many girls that came up and asked him to dance he always refused as politely as he could. Why, was the question that his close friends seemed to be thinking.  
  
Noticing the questioning looks and finally deciding to give up, he said simply, "I don't need a ball-and-chain to keep me from doing the stuff I love, and having a girl think she could stop that simply by me dancing with her wouldn't be fun... Besides, since when am I the type to want a girlfriend?"  
  
James shrugged, and answered for the entire group (including Lily and Maya, who seemed rather angry with him saying the idea of having a girlfriend was like having a ball-and-chain), "Never." 


End file.
